Persian Period Notes

539BCE is the first period after the iron age
• Babylonians were taken down quickly
• The Rise of the Persian Empire(539­333 BCE) 200 years of peace
o Cyrus­Persian King­takes over the Babylonians (takes Babylon)­in
339BCE
o Cyrus’ imperial/religious strategy
 Acted as a liberator as long as the people showed respect and were
his subjects
 Told deportees they could go back ot hey ancestral lands and it was
funded
 Book of Ezra­tells the story of Cyrus and quotes the Cyrus
Declaration (530)
o Text that is similar to his
declaration but geared towards he Babylonians (CYRUS CYLINDER)
 not that many Babylonians went back to Babylonia. They stayed in
Persia
 Diaspora­ethnic population that chooses itself decides to live
outside of its ancestral lands. They still don’t lose their ethnic
identity
• The return of the deportees from Babylonia
o The declaration of Cyrus